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Bricktown Canal to celebrate 10th anniversary

The Bricktown Canal, at first ridiculed as the most frivolous of the nine Metropolitan Area Projects approved by voters in 1993, is now a top tourist draw that has spurred more than $109 million in development since it opened a decade ago.

The Bricktown Canal, as seen from the Mickey Mantle Drive plaza, 1999. OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE PHOTO

With Bricktown set to celebrate the canal’s 10th anniversary on Thursday, those involved with the project say it has fallen short of expectations in terms of development even as it has become a source of civic pride.

The project required excavation of California Avenue between the BNSF Railway viaduct and Walnut Avenue, and creation of a waterway that would flow to just south of Interstate 40.

"I couldn’t envision it,” said Kirk Humphreys, who began a six-year tenure as mayor just as construction of the waterway began in 1998. "I didn’t have a clear picture of how it would be as cool as it is.”

Humphreys wasn’t alone. Jim Cowan, then owner of the Bricktown Brewery and now director of the Bricktown Association, watched as the waterway transformed the city’s self-image.

"It just blew my mind to think that what I knew to be a city street would become a waterway,” Cowan said. "When it opened, we operated satellite locations along the canal because Chelino’s was the only restaurant open. And I was blown away by the comments I heard — people instantly had a sense of pride I didn’t hear before whenever speaking of living in Oklahoma City.”

Boosting business

The $109 million represents just the development along the waterway. But Cowan argues that other major developments — the Bricktown Hampton Inn, the American Banjo Museum, various projects along Sheridan and Main Street — can all be indirectly linked to the canal.

Add those numbers into the mix, Cowan says, and the development attributable to the canal hits at least $140 million — the spin-off originally predicted for all of the MAPS projects.

"I think the canal has influenced development throughout Bricktown, and not just along canal,” Cowan said. The canal opening, he said, boosted business for everybody.

"There were just so many people coming to Bricktown to try it out,” Cowan said. "We saw a 30 percent increase in business in those months after the opening.”

Some disputes arise

The canal’s 10-year lifespan hasn’t been without controversy and disappointment.

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Canal Trivia

→The only restaurant on the canal when it opened was Chelino’s, where patios were added in the rear to face the new waterway. Chelino’s faced constant food shortages during the opening weekend due to high demand.

→The first business to open as a direct result of the canal was My Place restaurant. The cafe opened in what is now home to Coyote Ugly just as canal construction started. Access to the restaurant was impeded by construction and it closed before the canal opened.

→Bricktown 54 was the first big successful nightclub to open along the canal.

→Failed concepts along the canal included an art gallery, Mexican crafts gift shop, pizza parlor and a flag store.

→Do you remember: Lotus? Daddy Hinkles? Othello’s? All three restaurants were ambitious upscale restaurants that failed to win a following on the ground floor of the Kingman building. The space was also briefly home to a Banana Joe’s nightclub.

→Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Cafe and Planet Hollywood both once expressed an interest in opening restaurants along the canal.

→The first boat to cruise the canal was not a water taxi; a contractor acting on a bet sped through the new waterway with his motorboat.

COMING UP

MAIN STREET

With only weeks remaining before the July 2, 1999, opening of the Bricktown Canal, city officials enlisted Bob Bekoff and his Water Taxi company to start boat operation on the waterway. Tuesday Page 4B

Anniversary Celebration

→Thursday: City leaders will gather at 11 a.m. and will unveil tributes to the late Bricktown developers Jim Brewer and Neal Horton and discuss future growth plans for the area.

→Friday: The Oklahoma City Philharmonic will perform in the parking lot east of the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. Gates open at 7 p.m. with the concert starting at 8 p.m. The show will end with a fireworks display.

→Saturday: Brewer Entertainment’s holiday festivities return to Bricktown after a two-year stint along the Oklahoma River. The night will end with a fireworks show at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.